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Christmas Eve was a turkey affair with family from my mother's side. On Christmas day( Collapse )

Cherry Mess
adapted from David Lebovitz

serves 6

Components: cherry compote, candied almonds, almond meringues, whipped cream

Cherry Compote
600 g bag frozen pitted sweet cherries (or a scant 1.5 lbs fresh pitted cherries)
75 g / 3/8 cup granulated sugar
a few drops of almond extract
a little bit of wine or water
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Candied almonds
80 g / 1 cup (80g) sliced almonds (blanched or unblanched)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon water
pinch of salt
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Meringues
2 large egg whites (room temp, if you can)
Pinch of salt
100 g / 0.5 cup sugar
a few drops almond extract
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Whipped cream and assembly
1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon amaretto or a few drops almond extract

Just before serving, whip cream and sugar in a cold bowl until firm peaks and then whip in liquor or extract. Take 3 or 4 meringues and break into 3/4" (2cm) chunks (discard bits if not fully dry, and use a 5th meringue if necessary.) Fold enough pieces into the whipped cream so that it is well studded, more than half of the volume.

Layer ingredients in 6 wine glasses or other appropriately sized glass cups. For taller glasses, you may do more than one iteration, but for shallower cups, just one, so divide components accordingly. For each iteration, start with some cherries and a little of their juices, followed by the whipped cream mixture and a light drizzle of juices. Top with candied almonds. Repeat if desired.

I made sachertorte for Christmas Eve dinner. I was really happy with it. Other than the last bite or so near the edge, it was very moist. I think I'll try lowering the unusually high oven temp to a more conventional 350F next time and seeing if that doesn't make it more uniformly moist. I seldom remember to photograph my cakes whole, but here's a slice from the leftovers.



Torte
Rick Rogers, via epicurious

Serves 12 to 16.

128 g / 4.5 oz high-quality bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
128 g / 9 tablespoons (1 stick plus 1 tablespoon) unsalted butter, at cool room temperature
115 g / 1 cup confectioners' sugar, aka powdered sugar, aka icing sugar
6 large eggs, separated, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
100 g / 0.5 cup granulated sugar
125 g / 1 cup all-purpose flour (spoon gently into cup and level top)

Apricot glaze, chocolate glaze and whipped cream to follow.

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Apricot Glaze
If you know where to buy apricot preserves which are apparently different from apricot jam, follow the instructions on epicurious but if all you can get is apricot jam, here's what I did:

~1 cup apricot jam
a slosh or 2 of orange juice or apricot juice, or any orange coloured fruit juice, or golden rum.

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Chocolate Glaze
Again, you could use the chocolate glaze recipe provided, but I used one I'm familiar with, scaled down from the ganache frosting in David Lebovitz's Devil's Food cake. It pours nicely when just made, and is good for spreading as frosting at 1 hour.

189 g / 6.7 oz bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/3 cup water (you could use cream, but you don't need to)
113 g / 0.5 cup (1 stick) softened unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

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Serve with lightly sweetened whipped cream. Add about 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar and 1/2 a teaspoon of vanilla extract to 1 cup of heavy cream and whip until it forms firm peaks.

I read of this earlier in the month. As I have a soda maker, I immediately made a batch. It is delicious with any kind of citrus juice, but probably best with lime. I made my aunt a bottle when she had a family brunch for my cousin's visit earlier in the month, and I added a bottle to my brother's Christmas present. I've got another bottle in the fridge ready to take to our friends' New Year's Eve party. I've had my soda maker for a several years, but all three of them just got theirs this year, since it became more widely available in the city.

This makes a spicy ginger syrup. If you're not into that and want to take the edge off the heat, you can boil the ginger alone for two minutes before changing the water and adding the sugar. But if you do that, I question whether you actually like ginger.

Fresh Ginger Syrup
Bruce Cost, via David Lebovitz
Makes 2 cups

8 oz. fresh ginger root
2 cups sugar
4 cups water
pinch salt

You can peel the ginger or not; it just makes the syrup darker if you leave it on. Slice the ginger root into coins and the slice across the pile in multiple directions to make many small pieces. Place in a non-reactive pot with sugar, water, and salt, stir and bring to a boil on high heat. Reduce heat to a level to maintain a slow boil and cook until reduced to 2 cups. (Yes, pour it out and measure, and put it back and keep cooking if it's not reduced enough. Maybe this is obvious to you, but I only started doing this in the last year for recipes that say "cook until reduced by half" or whatever.) This will take an hour or longer depending on just how slow your boil is, and how wide your pot is. Strain the ginger pieces out with a mesh sieve, cool, and store in a jar or bottle in the fridge. Should keep for a couple of weeks in the fridge. Even with a very fine mesh strainer (like one I use to skim fat off stock,) there will probably still be stuff that settles, so stir before pouring for each use.

For ways to use up the cooked ginger bits, see David's recipe head notes. Maybe I'll do one of those things at some point, but with the amount I've made thus far, I haven't saved any of it.

To make ginger soda, pour a generous amount in the bottom of the glass. Add a slug or good squeeze of citrus juice, preferably lime, add ice if desired and top with soda water. This is very much a "to taste" type of drink, but use a larger amount of syrup than you would for most cordials. David said 1/3 of the glass with syrup. I pour about 1/5 syrup. Citrus is just as discretionary. I think I get about 3 drinks per lime.

This syrup also has great cocktail mixing and fruit dessert potential.

I came across this recipe a little while ago, and I've now made half batches twice.

It's based on wacky cake, which I made a version of once from a Martha Stewart recipe and wasn't too impressed with because it tasted too lean compared to my signature chocolate cake. I didn't check the ratios, but the addition or chocolate chips and raspberries really makes this recipe a keeper. They're really easy to make, too: fast and mixed by hand. I've been using frozen raspberries since I've had a bag in my freezer for ages, and it works great, just the chill will almost double the baking time.

The recipe writer says it yields 12 cupcakes plus a little extra that he suggests baking in a ramekin as a cook's treat. I've been making half batches, and did 8 cupcakes the first time, and 9 the second. I'm going to stick to 9. (Pedantic bit of research: the cups I use are at the top end of the range for standard size according to wikipedia, and baked, they are full with a bit of a dome.)

A few quantities become a bit awkward halved, but there are options:

1 1/6 cup / 1 1/4 cup minus (1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon) / 146 g all-purpose flour
3/4 cup / 150 g sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
5/8 cup / 5 fl.oz. / scant 150 mL water
3/8 cup / 3 fl.oz. / scant 90 mL oil
1/4 teaspoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/8 cup / heaped 1/3 cup chocolate chips
3/4 cup raspberries or more, fresh or frozen*

* reserve 3 or so nice looking raspberries per cake to garnish the tops of the cakes. This can be from the total volume, or in addition to, if you want the cakes extra fruity.

Preheat oven to 350˚F with rack at middle height. Line 9 cups of a standard muffin/cupcake pan with paper liners.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Alternate whisking and stirring with a spoon, scooping to the bottom to combine well and break up lumps. Or, pass through a sieve and stir for similar results.

In a second bowl, whisk together water, oil, vinegar and vanilla extract. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the liquid mixture. Whisk until well combined. Add chocolate chips and raspberries, less those reserved for garnish, and stir with a spatula until well distributed.

Divide batter into paper lined cups, filling to a level about 1/2" below the top edge. Place 3 garnish raspberries on each cake, pressing into the batter just slightly.

Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes. Test for doneness by lightly pressing the top of the cakes. If they are done, they will feel lightly springy. You can also poke with a cake tester, but beware that melty chocolate chips could look like uncooked batter. If not done, add time in 5 minute increments, unless you used frozen raspberries, in which case you can go ahead and add a whole 15 minutes before testing again. Bottom line: springy to the touch matters more than time.

Allow to cool to a safe temp before eating.

I'm dissappointed that I didn't find all that many new recipes I loved this year, particularly that I didn't find any awesome new cake recipes. I did make a pear chocolate chip cake twice over the holidays, and while it was quite lovely, it didn't knock my socks off like last year's favourite cake, the rosemary olive oil chocolate chip cake.

Anyway, my favourite new recipe for 2012 is a broccoli salad from the new Smitten Kitchen Cookbook. A version orinally appeared on the website., was rejigged for her book, and I tweaked it a little for my tastes. The book version cuts the onion down to 2 tbsp finely diced shallot. I leave it out entirely after trying it a couple of times. Use it or lose it according to your tastes. I usually use raisins instead of dried cranberries, and more than the original. I like more almonds as well.

How I make it:

2/3 cup raisins (or dried cranberries)
2/3 cup sliced almonds
2 broccoli crowns
fresh ground black pepper to taste

dressing:
1/2 cup light mayonaise
1/2 cup yogurt
2 tbsp apple cider vineger
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt


Vegan notes: you can leave out the yogurt/buttermilk from the dressing, and substitute veganaise for mayo. Just increase the veganaise quantity and the cider vinegar, about 2/3 cups veganaise, and 1/3 cup vinegar.

Toast the almonds well, keeping a close eye on them and stirring occasionally spread out on a cookie sheet in a 350 F oven or in a dry frying pan over med-low heat.

Cut up the broccoli into small pieces, by hand or with the slicing disc of a food processor. I do it by hand and cut it into sorta matchsticks (or matchsticks with tufts of broccoli on their ends.) If the skins of portions of the stem seem tough, peel it off. Put the broccoli in a large bowl with toasted almonds and raisins.

Stir together dressing ingredients and pour over broccoli and stuff. Toss well to combine. If it seems less than well coated you can add spoonfuls of the main dressing ingredients and toss some more. Grind a flurry of black pepper over it and serve.

Leftovers still taste great, but the toasted almonds will discolour it and some water will leak out and puddle at the bottom.

Another cake I got excited about and made repeatedly in the last few months was a rosemary olive oil cake with chocolate chips, based on a recipe from Good to the Grain by Kim Boyce. The recipe was shared in a blog post by her editor, and presented with weights by Heidi Swanson at 101cookbooks.com where I first saw it.

I've tried a few olive oil cakes and muffins, and this one's definitely the winner. The the olive oil is a major component of the flavour profile, more so that other recipes I've tried, and is used to great effect with the rosemary and dark chocolate. It's also very easily mixed by hand, if that's a draw for you.

This recipe is meant to be made with a combination of spelt and all-purpose flour. If you want to try that, refer to the links in the first paragraph, but I'm going to present below what I use, for a cake using only all-purpose flour.

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Heidi also really likes the effect of the different sized shards and chunks you get from chopping chocolate, but I don't like the mess of chopping chocolate, so I use chips. I've added a volume for chocolate chips as well.

I also increased the quantity of rosemary.

Rosemary Olive Oil Chocolate Cake

3 eggs
3/4 cup whole or 2% milk
1 cup olive oil (go for one with a stronger flavour)
2 tbsp finely chopped fresh rosemary

290 g / 2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
115 g / 1/4 + 1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt

140 g / 5 oz. dark or bittersweet chocolate chopped into 1/2" pieces (3/4 cup chocolate chips)
up to 2 tbsp sugar for top crunch, optional

Preheat the oven to 350F. Oil and line the bottom of a 9" cake pan* with parchement paper.

In a medium-large bowl, beat 3 eggs with a fork. Beat in milk. Add oil. Chop the rosemary as finely as possible and add to egg/milk/oil.

In a second larger bowl, measure the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, salt.) Combine well by alternating whisking and stirring with a spoon a couple of times, making sure to spoon up the contents at the bottom of the the bowl. Beat egg-milk-oil mixture until well combined, and pour over flour mixture. Fold in roughly with a spatula until almost all the flour is wet, add the chocolate and continue folding until all the flour is wet and the chocolate is well distributed.

Pour into prepared pan and sprinkle the second sugar over the top if using. Bake in preheated oven for 40 minutes or until a toothpick poked in the centre comes out clean.

Allow to cool, run a knife around the edges, and demold. Or serve warm in the pan, as you like.

This is really really delicious and different! With restraint, I made it last five days stored in the pan with a plate on top.

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*You can obviously use other pans, possibly with slightly different baking times. Test for doneness ahead of time, particularly for smaller cakes. Kim originally wrote the recipe for a 9.5" fluted tart pan, which may lend itself better to serving warm out of the pan. Heidi used a long, odd-sized loaf pan. For Christmas, I made several batches using either two 6" cake pans, or the set of four mini 5" loaf pans (which needed only 35 min baking time) my mom found me at a garage sale. Wrapped in plastic cling wrap with a branch of rosemary on top (or twisted in a wreath) they made very pretty Christmas gifts.

I was asked to bring a salad and a cooked vegetable side to our family's Christmas Eve dinner. These are both pretty and delicous.

Arugula Fennel Prosciutto Pomegranite Salad
http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/11/…
Just look at that! Is that not the prettiest most festive salad you could serve at Christmas dinner? It is Christmas on a plate.

I've adjusted the quantities to reflect what I used; it's pretty different from the recipe as provided, and many commenters said it was just right as written, so I'm sure it's not that important. Basically, I increased almost everything while keeping the arugula the same.

Serves 8 to 12

1 fennel bulb
1 + 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1/4 tsp salt
142 g / 5 oz. arugula (a box, about 6 cups compressed, will fluff to much more)
1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions (that's ~1 bunch. I didn't buy enough for a full cup.)
1/2 cup thinly sliced mint leaves
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
260 g / 9 oz. thinly sliced prosciutto, torn or sliced into strips
seeds from one large pomegranate (about 2 cups)

Slice your fennel bulb as thin as humanly possible by hand, or with a mandoline (cheapo mandoline worked great.) The yeild is 4 to 6 cups. Toss with 1 tbsp olive oil and 1/4 tsp salt.

Toss the arugula, green onion and mint with the remaining 2 tbsp olive oil, balsamic vinegar, several grinds of pepper and a light sprinkling of salt.

To serve, plate individually, or on a platter, layering first the greens, followed by the fennel, prosciutto and the pomegranite seeds. Or whatever order you like.

Stuff you can do ahead:
Obviously, you do all your slicing and pomegranate dismantling ahead. You can have the fennel tossed with oil and salt ready, as well as all the greens tossed with just the oil. Toss the greens with the balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper just before plating.

Moroccan Spiced Spaghetti Squash
http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/11/…
Sunny bright yellow! Flecked with fresh green!

1 spaghetti squash, 3.5 to 4 lbs
1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
2 garlic cloves, minced or sliced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/8 teaspoon cayenne
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro or parsley, if you’re cilantro-averse

Either roast, microwave or steam the squash to cook it. Refer to link for microwave guidelines. For steaming, uh, search google, but that's what my mom does. To roast, either roast whole for 1 hour at 375F (stabbed several times to a depth of 1 in to avoid an exploded squash mess,) or if you can manage to cut it in half, which is tough, but will shave off some cooking time, scoop out the seeds, brush the cut side with oil and roast cut side down for 40 min. (I sliced off the stem end, and then stood it on the flat surface while I labouriously split it in half. And bellowed in triumph when the squash was vanquished.)

Once the squash is in the oven, melt the butter in a saucepan, and cook the garlic over medium heat until lightly browned (your butter might be browned too, or you might do this on purpose.) Stir in the spices and salt and remove from the heat..

Allow the squash to cool to a manageable temperature before handling. If cooked whole, split and scoop out the seeds and set aside to roast or discard (be careful of steam.) Scrape out the squash flesh with a fork, separating and fluffing the strands. Toss with spiced butter and cilantro.

You can do this completely ahead. The cilantro will retain its green-ness on reheating.

I love Smitten Kitchen and I've been making a lot of her recipes lately. First up:

melt in your mouth flourless chocolate cake
http://smittenkitchen.com/2011/04/…
http://smittenkitchen.com/2007/03/…

This is not like other flourless chocolate cakes. There is no pretense of flour by using ground nuts, or any other flour substitutes. In fact, it is little more than melted chocolate suspended in egg foam (in a similar process to making chiffons, if you're familiar.) I first made this for my friend who was diagnosed with Celiac disease. It is fantastic. It's light and tasting deeply of chocolate, and the whipped cream makes it seem even lighter.

(Aside: why do so many recipes for whipped cream ask for powdered sugar? I always use regular sugar. It dissolves fine, and then whips up no problem, even when I've resorted to doing it by hand. Not exactly no problem by hand, but it does work.)

Her family clipped it from the New York Times back in 1975 and has been making it ever since. It was presented then as a roll cake (and she has incorporated reader tips on how to best avoid cake cracking,) but you can also make it as a layer cake. However, I don't see the need for a 9" four layer double recipe version which requires a dozen eggs like in her second link. I've so far served it as single 9" layers which is perfectly elegant, especially with fresh strawberries on the side, and as a cute little double layer 6" cake. The recipe below is for a double layer 9" cake, which I think easily serves 10. You could halve it or just save leftover layers for later snacking if you're serving fewer, which is what I do.

For two 9" layers (see first link for roll cake instructions)
6 oz. / 170 g dark chocolate chopped or 1 cup semi- or bittersweet chocolate chips
3 tablespoons water or strong coffee
6 large eggs, at room temperature, separated
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon table salt

1 cup whipping cream
1 tbsp sugar, or to taste
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract or 1 to 2 tablespoons liqueur of your choice, such as Grand Marnier

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Oil and line a pair of 9" cake pans with parchement paper (or four 6" pans.)

Melt the chocolate and water over very low heat or using bursts in the microwave until nearly melted, then remove from heat and stir to melt completely. Set aside to cool slightly.

Meanwhile, beat yolks and sugar at high speed until pale and ribbony (this means that when you lift the beaters, what drips back in is so thick it it doesn't disappear immediately. It will be paler than pale butter.) Genltly stir in the melted chocolate/water mixture.

With a clean bowl and beaters, sprinkle the salt over the egg whites and beat until stiff peaks form. Transfer about 1/4 of it to the chocolate/yolk mix and gently stir it in. Gently fold in the remaining whites in 3 additions until more or less no white poufs remain. (If you're scared of over handling, it's okay. The white poufs will show, but it will bake fine. If you're not scared of raw eggs, and no sueing me if you get sick! taste the batter. The taste and texture are heavenly.)

Divide the batter evenly in the two pans and smooth the top as evenly as possible, because it will bake to pretty much exactly that shape, but with a rise around the edges after it sinks on cooling. I use a small offset spatula. Bake for 15 minutes, or until a toothpick poked in the centre comes out clean and the top feels velvetty and dry. (It'll seem a little underdone if you also use the finger poke test, like me.)

Remove from the oven and cool on racks. Run a knife around the edges at some point. You can leave it in the pans until you're ready to frost, in the fridge overnight if necessary. Freeze for an hour before frosting to make the delicate thin cake layer easier to handle if you're stacking. (Not really necessary for the little 6" cake.)

For frosting, add sugar and optional flavourings to the cream, give it a stir to help the sugar dissolve, and whip to the desired consistency. I like stiff peaks. (If you're stacking, I think you definitely need stiff, but if not just whip it as much as you like.) Spread slightly less than half the whipped cream on the top of one layer, top with the second, and spread the remaining cream on top. Give it an artful swirly fluffy appearance if you can, and leave the sides naked. Refridgerate until ready to serve. It could probably use an hour or two to make sure the cake layers are no longer frozen if you did that.

I made two pumpkin pies for Canadian Thanksgiving, so I experimented with the spice profile with one, while doing a traditional spice profile for the other.

I arbitrarily chose a masala chai recipe off the internet and steeped the milk/cream portion from the recipe, tasted and added more cardamom. I used whole spices, smashed somewhat in the mortar and pestle, so I strained the cream before mixing with the rest of the pie ingredients. I also used white sugar, figuring the flavour of brown didn't quite match (and also because I wanted a more orange pie.)

People either couldn't tell the difference between the two pies (myself included,) or thought it was the Best Idea Ever!

I could tell when I burped, though. Cardamom burps are so lovely!

Have you ever heard or read the advice that to sharpen a pair of old scissors, you should make a few cuts with them through some tin foil? I always thought that seemed like a good way to wreck some scissors.

Well, tonight, I had a cake mixed halfway before I remembered to prepare the pan and found out I'd run out of parchement paper, so I decided to cut a circle of tin foil for the bottom. I picked some crummy dollar store scissors just in case, and yup, the scissors are now exactly how I'd expect them to look after cutting through tin foil, which is the edge is all dinged up. So yeah, it's crap advice for scissors sharpening.